Parthian horse-archer plaque
Syria, 1st Century BC-3rd Century AD

Ceramic relief plaque of a mounted male archer; figure wearing trousers beneath a belted tunic, supported by a horned saddle; drawing a composite bow, wearing a four-lobed sword on his right thigh; pair of phalerae indicated by small relief blobs on the right shoulder and haunch of the horse; the plaque is hollow with a plain back and circular hole in the back; yellowish clay, relatively low fired; made in a two-part mould to form the back and front separately, with visible traces of vertical seam along the edges; complete, but bottom left corner chipped off and missing.